Before fabrication can begin on these structures, the Nondestructive Testing (NDT) engineer must evaluate the various designs and fabrication practices to determine the inspection requirements. If production parts are inspected, the accept/reject criteria must be available to the inspector. Associated with the accept/reject criteria is the need for built-in defect standards for calibration of ultrasonic and bondtest equipment. In come cases, the requirements for in-service inspection techniques also need to be developed and documented. Lastly, various repairs may be installed during operation of the component and NDI methods for assessing the damage and quality of the repair are required.

Because of the extent of the subject and the limits imposed on this presentation, the discussion will be confined to inspection of the DC-10 upper aft composite rudders and the composite vertical stabilizer during fabrication and while in-service. Also discussed will be damage and repair assessment of a few MD-11 composite assemblies. Lastly, the NDT development toward the MD-XX composite wing are addressed.